Council and Commission ready for diplomat battle

WORK on creating an EU diplomatic service to support the Union’s future foreign minister has begun, opening up a host of potential turf wars between the European Commission and the Council of Ministers.

Disputes between the Commission and Council over defining the structure of the External Action Service (EAS) are almost guaranteed since both jobs and power are at stake.

A paper drafted in the Council of Ministers observes that in the Commission “there is a widespread feeling…that the EAS is a takeover by the Council, leading to resentment and defensiveness”.

It also warns that: “The member states need to be confident that the External Action Service is not completely outside their control and that it serves their interest.”

The signing of the EU treaty in Rome at the end of October opened the way for work on the EAS to begin.

Javier Solana, the Union’s high representative for foreign and security policy, has moved quickly to keep control of defining the shape of the service which he will head when he becomes the EU’s first foreign minister.

Solana was anxious to ensure that the process was not picked apart by working parties and committees from the member states.

EU states’ ambassadors have agreed to leave the drafting of the structure to Solana and the office of José Manuel Barroso, president of the Commission.

The draft conclusions of the 16-17 December European Council will invite Solana and the Commission to “continue [the] preparatory work, in particular by identifying key issues, including the scope and structure of the future service”. It states there should be “regular discussions” in the meetings of foreign affairs ministers.

An EU diplomat estimated that it would be February or March before the subject was put up for discussion by ministers.

Another EU diplomat said he hoped an outline would be ready early next year so that there would be a deal by June 2005 to which the member states could also agree.

In theory, the EAS is supposed to be ready for duty as early as 2006 when the new constitution could come into effect, if ratified, creating the post of EU foreign minister.

The aim, according to the Council paper, is to create “a new joint and integrated service, distinct from the Council and the Commission and established through an inter-institutional agreement”.

At its core would be the Commission’s current external relations department plus the Council secretariat’s directorate-general for external relations (currently headed by Robert Cooper) and the policy planning and early warning unit (currently headed by Christoph Heusgen). But there are likely to be disagreements on precisely where to set the boundaries.

A note from the Council secretariat flags up some of the potential points of dispute in the months ahead.

Where to place the military staff? Whether to elevate the current political and security committee to be a COREPER III? Who would control the Commission’s delegations abroad and who would take on their financial and administrative oversight? Should policy on Africa be moved from the Commission’s development department to the EAS?

The size of the future diplomatic service is also disputed, with some member states believing it should not be allowed to grow too large. Recruitment is another difficulty. Staff are to be drawn from the Council, the Commission and the national diplomatic services, supposedly working with the same terms and conditions.

Solana and Barroso are expected to have a first discussion about the EAS in the coming weeks.

The Council’s paper is thought to be setting the stage for the brainstorming on the EU’s future foreign service that the Council’s foreign policy chief and the Commission’s president will supervise.

“There is a long list of questions and no answers yet,” said a Council spokesman.